


Why We Fight

by PoisonKisses



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Gotham City Sirens (Comics)
Genre: Comfort, F/F, F/M, Grief, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-28 18:25:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14455149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoisonKisses/pseuds/PoisonKisses
Summary: When tragedy occurs, Catwoman has to learn to lean on others to make it through, and Poison Ivy is as strong as the Earth itself.





	Why We Fight

**Author's Note:**

> Some IvyCat that has been sitting unfinished in my inbox for sometime. Set vaguely around the time the Manslaughter arc in Birds of Prey.

It was one of the best-kept secrets in Gotham.

Selina wasn't sure which one of them first started the tradition, but she knew it started not long after Poison Ivy first arrived on the scene. Prior to that, for several months in fact, Catwoman was the only notable female criminal in Gotham City. She was no Joker, or Two Face, primarily because she didn't kill, and she did everything with a style those others lacked, but the mysterious Batman loved to chase her nonetheless.

Poison Ivy was a new element. A villain with style and panache, fearless and sexy, killed with a kiss. They didn't cross paths at first, they actually tended to run in different circles. Selina stole, the more difficult a challenge the better. Ivy had a purpose, a duty to the natural world that she took very seriously. They knew of each other, of course, but they didn't really meet until a benefit for the Wayne foundation. Both ladies were attending for different reasons – – Selina was planning on walking away with a fortune in jewels, and Ivy was there to pay those wealthy abusers of the environment back in blood.

Their relationship started off…frosty. Ivy wasn't known to be a particularly warm person anyway, and Selina could be catty even at the best of times. Selina's penchant for straddling the fence between hero and villain didn't endear her to the rest of Gotham's infamous rogues gallery. Ivy in particular, who had well known trust issues anyway, constantly called her on it.

Still, out of the public eye, the two women had a bond. There was, underneath the snarkiness, a mutual respect. In many ways, they were both the only person in the world the other had anything in common with.

It had started innocently enough. While moving quietly through the roof tops, Selina had come upon Ivy. The other woman was sitting on the edge of a building, her knees pulled her chest and arms wrapped around them. She'd approached Ivy cautiously, and found the other woman crying. There was no snark, and before the night was over, they'd retired to a hotel room and spent the weekend doing normal stuff. Eating ice cream, complaining about their problems, and Selina offering a sympathetic ear to Ivy's frustrated anger over the destruction of a plot of undeveloped land on the outskirts of the city – – one that she had tried to save, tried to stop the developers, and been susequently foiled by the Batman.

The second time, Ivy found her. She needed some advice about fencing some things, Selina helped her, they shared several mimosas, and then spent the weekend in baggie cookie pants watching Netflix.

The third time, well, that was different. After a long rooftop chase, Selina had managed to pull the Batman into a kiss, and he seemed to be into it, but then he took her by the shoulders and shoved her away. It was frustrating to say the least, so after escaping him, on a whim, she decided to seek out Poison Ivy. Ivy had recently escaped Arkham and gone to ground, so to speak, in an effort to stay out of that infamous hellhole that could only be charitably called a mental health institute, but Selina was better than anyone at finding someone in the city.  
It was raining, and Ivy wordlessly let her in. Selina pulled off her hood, soaked and miserable, and looked at Ivy. She saw sympathy? Understanding? She saw something in Ivy's eyes. When she kissed her, Ivy didn't push her away…

They were together for a solid three weeks. The sex was mind blowing, and away from the public eye, from their masks, from their carefully curated personas, it was entirely too easy to find love and pleasure in each other's arms and company. That, unfortunately, was what doomed it. When they realized how comfortable, how happy, how content they were, they both recoiled. Things were said. Things that couldn't be taken back.

They drifted apart, becoming very cold with each other in public, occasionally working together but more often at odds. Selina was tugged more and more towards being a hero. She developed a relationship with Bruce--learning his identity. Harley came along, and while everyone else saw best friends and partners, Selina saw Ivy fall hard.

The penthouse had been Selina's idea originally, but Ivy enthusiastically supported it. It was in Selina's name, but Ivy funded it. It was a gorgeous place, with commanding views of Robinson Park. The maid came twice a week to keep it dusted and ready for their use. The standing rule was they could never use it as a hideout. Only for a timeout. There were times it stood empty for months. Other times, they would occupy it every few weeks. It was kept secret from everybody, even Harley--they both hated keeping a secret from her, but it was a simple fact that anything in Harley’s brain eventually got blabbed to the Joker. Neither one wanted to come for a weekend and find that sleaze in their home away from home. This was their space…

Usually, they would occupy it for the weekend--Friday night through Sunday, sometimes for longer if they were of a mood. The rule was if one of them sent the signal the other would drop anything that was not vitally important. Over the years, Selina had never been disappointed, regardless of what she gave up for their special weekends. Ivy never complained to her.

Selina was crouched on one of the many, ubiquitous gargoyles of Gotham city and surveying the East End, like a predatory cat surveying its territory, when her cell phone buzzed. She wasn't annoyed, necessarily, but she was a little surprised that she was getting a call at 2 AM. Shifting her weight she fished the little device out of her belt and used the thumb to scroll to her alerts.

Text message from Ivy:  
C A T N I P  
Thai…?

Selina grinned. One of the rules was no costumes. It was very important for them to keep this little subsection of their lives apart from their costumed personas. Selina had always been good at compartmentalization, and Ivy was no slouch either. Very gently, she tapped out a reply, always conscious of how easily her claws could scratch her phone.

OMW <3

She was off in an instant, moving through the Gotham city skyline as only she could. Within twenty minutes she was crawling through her skylight. Another ten, and she was stepping out of the front of her building with an overnight bag and straddling her bike. She shot off a quick text message to Tesla to feed her cats for the weekend, and then she pulled on her helmet.

She made a couple of stops. The liquor store, an all night grocery for a few odds and ins she knew Ivy probably wouldn't have thought to get, and the Thai place just around the corner from their building. She knew Ivy's order by heart, and within a few minutes was scanning her key card at the elevator and riding up.

She knew Ivy was in as soon as she entered. The lights in the entryway were dim and off in the den she could hear the faint sounds of their TV. She shut the door behind her, slid the bolt in and then carried the bags to the kitchen.

There were several cloth bags piled up on the kitchen table: Green and stenciled with the words Gotham city Farmer's market, they signified that Selina was in for some truly delicious food. Little known fact outside of the Sirens themselves, Poison Ivy was an incredible cook. Selina quickly stowed her perishables, put several bottles of wine into the cooler, and then carried the take out with her as she went in search of her temporary roommate.

She found Ivy casually lounging on the sofa, mindlessly clicking through the TV channels. She gave Selina a small smile and said simply, "hey."

Selina scrutinized the other woman. She looked tired, frustrated. "I take it this was a rough one," she muttered as she passed Ivy her takeout container.

Ivy gave an almost imperceptible nod and opened up her food. "I tried this time, Selina," she said quietly, uncharacteristically subdued, "I really tried. For once, it wasn't my fault. Everything just fell apart."

“Tried to?” She broke open her chopsticks. Ivy already had a bottle of sparkling grape juice and was pouring it into the empty glass already at the coffee table.

“Go straight, I guess. Leave the villainy behind me. I wasn’t doing anything wrong, just research. A too nosy neighbor tried to trap me in an elevator and grope me, he went to the ER, then Batman was there bursting through my window. That cold air killed my lab.” Ivy sighed and began spooning hot soup into her mouth, sucking on it in contentment. “Mmm, so hot, it feels good going down.”  
Selina wasn’t drunk enough, but she was juvenile enough to try to stifle a giggle at that, which came out as a snort. Ivy stared for a second and then flipped her off. “Seriously? I’m trying to talk about my feelings and it’s funny?”

“No, it’s funny because you can’t help yourself. You’re like, a sex robot from the future sent back to destroy us all. ‘It feels good going down?’ After sucking on that spoon like a porn star?” Now she really started giggling, Ivy rolling her eyes.

“You’re incorrigible.”

That started more giggling, Ivy scowling at her, which only made her already pouty lower lip stick out. “When you say things like ‘incorrigible’ it doesn’t help your cause,” she managed to gasp out. Ivy huffed.

“I can’t help it if you have the vocabulary of a 12 year old boy finding internet boobs for the first time.”

“Also, you are many things, Ivy, but straight?” she arched an eyebrow and Ivy glared, then shrugged.

“Ok, definitely not straight, but where would the fun in that be?”

“Ok ok, sorry, look, Batman is wound super tight, and he’s not going to see you as anything but Poison Ivy: eco terrorist, for a long time...want me to try talking to him?”

“You honestly think that would work?” Ivy took another spoonful of soup, blowing on it a bit to cool it off.

“No, we’re not exactly stable, but he might listen.” She took a drink of the grape juice--delicious.

“Sounds like you might have some things to say as well,” Ivy observed.

“I can always drum up some complaints about him.” Ivy smirked at her and tapped their glasses.

They started bingeing a Netflix show, something about a snarky, alcoholic, super-powered Private Investigator. Eventually, Ivy’s head was in her lap, and Selina was idly running her fingers through Ivy’s silky curls. 

“We should be private investigators.” Ivy’s voice was raspy, she sounded sleepy. In truth, Selina thought she’d lost the other woman several hard to believe scenes ago.

“Ya think? I don’t know, it looks really boring,” Selina murmured. Ivy shifted onto her back, looking up at Selina.

“Well, if this show is realistic, we’ll have government agencies and conspiracies all trying to stop it. And eventually you’ll betray me. Trish.”

Selina rolled her eyes, “Oh no, YOU’RE the Trish.”

“Please, you’re the Tr--” Selina put a finger on Ivy’s lips to shush her. That was the mistake. 

Ivy wrapped a hand around her wrist, holding it, and she kissed Selina’s fingertip. Selina’s pulse was picking up, and then Ivy said in that raspy, bedroom voice of hers, “Selina, I’m a little tired of the show.”

Selina nodded, and then Ivy slipped Selina’s finger into her warm, wet mouth, wrapping her impossibly soft lips around it, suckling it. That’s all it took…

Selina was lost.

***

Selina woke, slowly, because her phone was buzzing on the nightstand. Behind her, Ivy was a warm, welcoming presence against her back, the redhead’s face buried in the nape of her neck and her breath warm on Selina’s skin.

Ivy was spooning her possessively, arms around her middle, legs entwined, and Selina debated just tossing the offending device across the room and enjoying the cuddle time. Ivy wasn’t a natural cuddler, and she and Harley had learned that afterglow was basically the only time you could get it from their prickly friend and lover.

But it was late, and that meant it was an emergency.

She flipped the covers down and stretched, hearing Ivy’s low groan of protest. Her blood ran cold.

It was a text from Dick. How he had her number was anyone’s guess.

_Bruce hurt. Harley lured him into a trap. J set off bomb. It’s bad. Gotham General ICU_

“Selina, is everything ok?” Ivy clicked on a lamp and sat up, not bothering to hold a sheet up for modesty. Selina loved that about her.

Wordlessly, she handed Ivy the phone. 

“I’ve...I’ve got to get down there, Ivy, I’m sorry to break the rules. I’ve...I’ve gotta go…” Her mind was racing, but none of her thoughts were coherent.

“Of course you do. I’m driving.”

Selina started to argue as Ivy threw the blankets back, but Ivy had her resolute face.

And Selina was worried she’d need the support.

“Let’s go--”


End file.
